People do have to take 109 just to get to I-95/128. That's still leading to traffic problems this commuter rail extension could solve. And my aunt used to make the drive to Boston daily from Medway, now she works from home. People have done it and will continue to do it. That's human nature to keep doing what works for them.

You don't say how long ago it was that your aunt made the run to Boston. No wonder she works from home now. I just don't think there would be enough passenger volume to justify the enormous expense of resurrecting service from Millis. I remember In the '60s when they ran a single Budd Car from West Medway to Needham Jct. I sometimes used to see it crossing Rte. 109 in Millis and always marveled that the crossing was protected by only one dinky little flasher.

Last time she went to the city for work was about 1 1/2yrs ago. With her job in a big corporate bank she can work from home. If no one drives to the city anymore how do u explain the traffic during rush hour each way? It would help relieve the traffic backup on 109. There has to be a good amount of people that would use this, people don't realize if this goes through 109 won't be as congested as it is. Don't forget that the Csx crossing in medfield center doesn't exactly help either.

Well, yes. That wouldn't be the only metric to use. But if you start out by seeing four people riding (which I doubt is the case, since the shuttle's been running for a few years now), that would be pretty telling.

There was an article in the Metro today about how Needham wants to pave over the branch in their town. The other towns along the former line are against it, of course, but there's no mention of why. The Metro failed to note the towns' desires to reactivate rail service.

BostonUrbEx wrote:There was an article in the Metro today about how Needham wants to pave over the branch in their town. The other towns along the former line are against it, of course, but there's no mention of why. The Metro failed to note the towns' desires to reactivate rail service.

Kind of ironic that the Dover NIMBY's that were so gung-ho for the trail as vehicle for salting over any active rail use ever again have turned on a dime and hate the trail. Coincidentally a mere few weeks after Bay Colony filed its formal abandonment with the STB for freight rights to Needham, thus settling the last bit of paperwork for ripping out the rails. Coincidentally. Somehow I doubt those two trail lobby blowhards ever suspected they were getting punked all along. They thought they were clever enough to get a "free" Iron Horse scam trail they could then shove onto an unwilling DCR to spend $$$ to upgrade and maintain.

At least with the Needham Heights-Newton Upper Falls trail plan the two towns are proceeding *very* carefully before enacting a build plan to make sure it's compatible with a future Green Line extension and maximizes the Highland Ave. corridor redevelopment. That's been a model of careful consideration and caution so far...except, ironically, for those same two bicycle nihilists leading the Dover-Medfield charge who simply shout down people at Needham town meetings about how Green Line and commuter rail are stupid and everything would be better if people ride a bike. This Needham Jct.-Dover-Medfield trail was all hasty cynicism and, honestly, every selfish party in this farce is getting exactly what they deserve stabbing each other in the back at the last possible moment. At this rate it looks like Needham may have to try to make lemons out of lemonade by doing a dead-end trail from Junction to Charles River St. and the Charles River Peninsula Park if Dover won't cooperate.

The only reason that trial was brought up in Dover was becasue all the rich want to be treehuggers all of a sudden. Trains were there first, deal with it Dover and any other town that wants a rail trail(end of mini rant).

Ok, so...I'm wondering what the CURRENT status of this (Needham-Dover-Millis) line is. Are the tracks still intact? Have the trail-people won anything resembling a legal action to remove anything from anything or has the State/MBTA told them nicely to tamp ballast?

Cosmo wrote:Ok, so...I'm wondering what the CURRENT status of this (Needham-Dover-Millis) line is. Are the tracks still intact? Have the trail-people won anything resembling a legal action to remove anything from anything or has the State/MBTA told them nicely to tamp ballast?

It's kaput. The trail won. They paid their $1 to the T for the 99-year lease, Bay Colony did its STB filing a month ago abandoning all freight rights from Medfield Jct. to Newton, and Needham has completed its trail design. The rails will be ripped out from a few hundred feet south of High Rock St. (via hook-in to an existing woodland path) to the Needham town line. The T will still be able to runaround equipment at the wye since the first 500+ feet past the switch will remain intact before the trail connector joins. Dover, amusingly, started NIMBY-infighting about the trail the second the trail was approved so their leg is now delayed and the trail cannot yet cross the Charles Bridge. It'll loop in the park along the Charles banks until they get their act together. Gee...who would've thought those notorious NIMBYs' intentions would be anything less than honorable?

Bay Colony did explicitly state in its STB filing that it is retaining active rights from Medfield-Millis, even though there's been no business at Millis since 2010 and no movements on that line since '11. That stretch may still be the most endangered active track left in the state given that BC no longer has so much as a sales dept. to even attempt to attract new business, but it was never within the scope of this particular trail so half of Medfield Jct. will remain. As will the abandoned half for awhile since it's CSX's switch to rip out and because Medfield isn't in a rush to do anything until Dover does its connecting leg of the trail.

Dover and Millis ain't ever seeing a train again. Time to convert the rest to Orange and Green Line (Newton at least is taking great care with its trail debate and trail design to make sure their Upper Falls-Needham trail truly can be 'interim' or LRT-with-trailed in short order).